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Housing chiefs said almost all of the 150 people living as property guardians right now in Bristol will be out ‘within months’, although a few could still be in place for a year or two to come.

It means Bristol City Council could be the first in the country to actively refuse to take on property guardian companies, who came in for strong criticism for the way they operated.

Bristol Post, December 22, 2016

For years, the council had handed over its empty buildings – often closed-down nursing homes, former schools, council offices and even fire and police stations – to the companies who promised to manage them and keep them secure.

The property guardian companies then rented out rooms to people for less than the usual local market rate, and although those people were not security guards, their mere presence provided security against squatters, vandals and graffiti artists.

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The model worked for years, but before Christmas, after the scandal was first raised by The Bristolian, the Bristol Post revealed shocking conditions in one building – the Broomhill Elderly People’s Home (EPH) in Brislington.

Matters came to a head when two of the property guardians refusing to leave Broomhill EPH won a court case against the property guardian company Camelot, in which a judge ruled they were de facto tenants, and should be afforded the same rights.

Property guardians with Camelot bosses at Coombe EPH

Further revelations have since emerged about the way Camelot were treating residents at the Coombe House EPH in Westbury-on-Trym following that court case, and now the council’s housing chief Paul Smith has ordered the council to stop using ‘commercial’ property guardian companies for newly empty homes, and to stage a ‘managed withdrawal’ from existing contracts.

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The council currently has 17 empty buildings with property guardians living in them. Seven of them are with Camelot – two buildings at Brentry EPH, St Peter’s EPH at Manor Farm, Coombe EPH in Westbury-on-Trym, Lockleaze Day Centre, Speedwell Fire Station, Broomhill EPH and the Rustic Lodge at Blaise Castle.

Ten more empty council properties are being managed by a second property guardian firm Ad Hoc: St Ursula’s in Stoke Bishop, Rockwell EPH in Lawrence Weston, Lockleaze police station, Redhouse in Withywood, the Whitehouse Centre in Hartcliffe, Sea Mills infant school, the council offices in Salcombe Road in Knowle, Sinnott House in Brislington, 1 Airport Cottages in Hengrove and the old Sea Mills training centre.

Cllr Smith said he was initially shocked when he learned of the scale of the scandal, the conditions people were living in, how many people were living in many buildings and often without proper House in Multiple Occupancy licences, which covered health and safety and fire regulations.

Paul Smith, Bristol City Council cabinet member for housing

He admitted council officers had ‘taken their eye off the ball’ with the arrangements set up under the previous George Ferguson-led administration, still running for years, even though the idea of the schemes were that they would be short-term.

“These property guardian schemes were supposed to be about security but they were made into a way to house people on a much larger scale than they should have been,” said Cllr Smith.

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“The council had taken its eye off the ball. It had moved away significantly from these companies providing security, and we were concerned at the conditions when it was first revealed before Christmas.

“I was shocked at some of the conditions, as soon as we heard, we got environmental health round,” he added.

Property guardians with Camelot bosses at Coombe EPH

“At one stage we went round and found 40 people there – it was never supposed to be like that.”

“This is going to be a managed withdrawal from these arrangements. There’ll be no new ones. Of the ones we’ve already got, we’ll be giving notice to end the contracts on buildings we can do something with straight away.

"If we’re going to demolish them, we will bring that forward and that will be no extra cost, just bringing cost forward.

“For most it will be months, but some might be longer. I would be surprised if there are any left by the end of this term of office for the council in 2020,” he added.

Clive, one of the property guardians at St Mungo's property in south Bristol (Image: David Betts)

“We have plans for most of the sites currently being used as guardianship properties and we need to make sure that we do not hold up re-development by being unable to obtain vacant possession of the buildings.

“For this reason it is being proposed that we begin a managed withdrawal from all of our current guardianship schemes, to make the best use of the land we have for housing, education and social care.

“It is also being recommended that the council do not enter into any other commercial guardianship schemes in future, however, this would not affect the charity guardianship programmes which offer temporary accommodation for homeless people," he added.